Aussie Financials Rise On Eased Guidance Related To Dividends

Jul 29 20, 06:08 GMT

General Trend:

Japanese equities decline amid earnings and recent Yen strength; Automakers and Iron/Steel cos. decline amid drop in Nissan; Brokerage index drops ahead of earnings from Nomura later today
Various Japanese firms decline after issuing financial results/guidance (Nissan, Fanuc, Canon)
McDonald’s Japan declines over 8%, co. expressed surprise related to plan by McDonald’s to cut stake
Shanghai Composite rises by over 1% in early trading; gaining sectors include IT, Consumer Discretionary and Financials
Kweichow Moutai declines after issuing H1 results, later pares loss
Gainers in Australia include financials, Resource and Energy firms decline
Rio Tinto is due to issue H1 results [generally reports during the London morning]
USD/JPY trades near ¥105 ahead of Fed decision, Japan MOF official commented
Australia AOFM (debt agency) CEO is due to deliver a speech on Thursday, July 30th. [expected at 330 GMT]
Companies expected to report during the NY morning include ADP, Boeing, Bunge, GE, General Dynamics, GM, Silicon Labs, Spotify

Headlines/Economic Data

Australia/New Zealand

ASX 200 opened flat
(AU) Australia Regulator (APRA): Updated capital management guidance for banks and insurance companies; Easing dividend payment restrictions; boards should retain at least 50% of earnings when deciding on capital distributions
*(AU) AUSTRALIA Q2 CPI Q/Q: -1.9% V -2.0%E (Largest Q/Q fall in 72-year history of Data series); Y/Y: -0.3% V -0.5%E; CPI Trimmed Mean (core) Q/Q: -0.1% v 0.1%e; Y/Y: 1.2% v 1.4%e; June quarter inflation decline was mainly due to free childcare (as expected)
(AU) Australia PM Morrison: Victoria Coronavirus cases are impacting the Domestic economy
(AU) Australia State Queensland says it will close borders to all of greater Sydney area (New South Wales Capital)
Air New Zealand [AIR.NZ]: To place additional bookings to Australia on hold until Aug 28th, cites restrictions imposed by Australia’s government

China/Hong Kong

Hang Seng opened -0.3%, Shanghai Composite -0.2%
ASM Pacific [522.HK]: Reports Q2 (HK$) 365.8M v 69.4M y/y, Rev 4.32B v 3.61B y/y; would not provide guidance for bookings
ASM Pacific [522.HK]: ASM Materials HK (unit) to sell 55.56% stake to investor SPVs for $200M
(CN) China National Health Commission Coronavirus Update for July 28th: 101 additional cases v 68 prior; Additional deaths: 0 v 0 prior; Xinjiang reports 89 additional coronavirus cases
(US) China Daily: Washington is the ‘biggest threat’ to the US dollar, notes escalation in the tensions between the US and China after recent events related to consulate office closures [updated]
(CN) China PBoC reported to be looking into China Bank consumer loan businesses – China securities Journal [relates to lending on online platforms]

Japan

Nikkei 225 opened -0.5%
(JP) Japan Ministry of Finance (MOF) Senior Official: FX stability is important, watching market with sense of urgency; No comment of current FX levels
(JP) Fitch affirms Japan sovereign rating at A; Outlook cut to Negative from Stable
(JP) Japan reported to guide FY20 GDP down ~4.5% – Nikkei [similar to BOJ FY20/21 GDP forecast of -4.7%]
Softbank [9984.JP]: ARM unit says it is still committed to China JV; Current JV Chief refuses to step down after blocking client support measures; China board is working with [China’s] govt to resolve dispute [follows report that Arm China asked China’s gov’t to ‘protect’ it from parent co. Arm Limited]

Korea

Other Asia

North America

(US) Fed extends emergency lending programs by 3 months through Dec 31st to provide certainty to borrowers
(US) House Speaker Pelosi: does not believe Sen Maj Leader McConnell is ready to make an agreement on virus aid
(US) Senate Democratic Minority Leader Schumer: Republican business Liability requirement in Coronavirus aid plan is not acceptable
Altice USA [ATUS]: Announces agreement to sell 49.99% of Lightpath Fiber Enterprise Business to Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners for $2.3B in cash [implied enterprise value $3.2B]

Levels as of 1:20 ET

Nikkei 225, -1.2%, ASX 200 -0.2% , Hang Seng +0.1%; Shanghai Composite +1.3% ; Kospi +0.2%
Equity S&P500 Futures: -0.2%; Nasdaq100 -0.1%, Dax -0.1%; FTSE100 -0.5%
EUR 1.1733-1.1713 ; JPY 105.24-104.95 ; AUD 0.7175-0.7148 ;NZD 0.6668-0.6646
Gold +0.1% at $1,947/oz; Crude Oil -0.2% at $40.95/brl; Copper -0.1% at $2.9093/lb